East SOS Specialists Joined the 3rd Psychological Services Forum in Kyiv
Specialists from the East SOS team took part in the 3rd Forum of Psychological Services “From Response to a Sustainable Model of Assistance”, held on March 10-11, 2026, in Kyiv.
The event was organized by the Right to Protection Charitable Foundation to bring humanitarian organizations together around a shared goal of improving psychological support for war-affected people by reassessing their needs and strengthening support tools.
During a panel discussion on the first day of the forum, East SOS board member Oksana Kuiantseva discussed how the need for psychological support has evolved over four years of the full-scale invasion.
“Since 2022, our psychologists have been supporting people after evacuation, both in transit centers and during integration into host hromadas (communities). However, before making the decision to evacuate, people go through a long and challenging process. In 2025, we launched a new initiative involving door-to-door visits to frontline hromadas to inform residents about evacuation options. Psychologists are always part of our team during such visits. They help people work through the fear of the unknown, explain the risks of living under shelling, and, together with evacuation teams, social workers, and local authorities, create a safe plan of action for each person,” said Oksana.
Yuliia Krat, Psychological Program Coordinator at East SOS, shared our team’s insights during a session titled Proven Practices in Delivering Psychological Services.
“Our work is built around four main approaches. The first involves integrating psychologists into every stage of support: during evacuation, at transit centers, within host hromadas, and during field visits after shelling. Then, we have long-term psychological support, work with institutions, including support for evacuees living in residential care facilities and for the staff who work there, as well as psychoeducational training for communities and humanitarian teams. Regular supervision sessions are a crucial part of this system, helping our specialists stay resilient and maintain the highest professional standards,” said Yuliia.
For our team, taking part in the forum was an opportunity to share our experience and contribute to a broader professional discussion about psychological support during a prolonged war.
We are grateful to the Right to Protection (R2P) Charity Foundation for bringing together representatives of the humanitarian sector to address this critical issue. We also value our colleagues’ willingness to work together building stronger support systems for those affected by the war.
Earlier, East SOS participated in a meeting with the Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court during his first visit to Ukraine.
